Electric railway trolley



(No Modl.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1;

. J. 0. LOVE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY TROLLEY. No. 532,167. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

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4; i 17 0 1 $4 7 jfl (No Model.) 2 Shets-Sheet 2; v

J. 0. LOVE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY TROLLEY.

No. 532,167. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

1 NITED T STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN C. LOVE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE LOVE ELECTRIC TRACTION COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC- RAI LWAY TROLLEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,167, dated January 8, 1895.

' Ap lication filed May 9, 1894. Serial No. 510,655. (No model.) i

To aZl whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. LOVE, of Chicago, 1n the county of Cook and State ofIlli- 'nois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric-Railway Trolleys;

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

traveling contact devicesby which a connection is formed between the main circuit wires or line conductors of an electric railway and the motor on the car. The invention is herein shown in connection with conductors located in a slotted con duit beneath the surface of the ground, the,

traveling contact device being supported from the body of the car by means of a standard secured to said car andextending downwardly into the conduit through the continuous longitudinal slot thereof.

The object of my invention is toprovide an improved construction in contact devicesof the character referred to, and to this end it consists in the matter hereinafter set forth and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

A contact device embodying my invention comprises in its construction a laterally and vertically movable trolley arm com posed vof a relatively short section engaging a horizontal pivot projecting from the supporting stand In the accompanying drawings my improvements are shown in connection with a two Wire circuit and embrace right and left and This invention relates to improvements in.

symmetrical parts,provided with independent trolleyoarms and trolleys. As will be apparent, however, said improvements admit of embodiment in a contact device adapted for use with a single line conductor and in which but one trolley arm and trolley are employed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a contact device embodyingmy invention, showing a form thereof in which a weight is employed to press the trolley yieldingly against the conductor. Fig. 2 is a top plan View thereof showing the supporting standard in section. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of another form of contact device embodying my invention, in which a spring is employed for holding the trolley yieldingly against the conductor. thereof.

In said drawings A designates the line wire or conductor for contact with which the trol- Fig. 4. is a plan view ley is designed. As heretofore stated, said line conductors are in this instance located in an under-ground conduit, which is not illustrated but may be of any approved construction.

, B designates the standard which is secured to the car and projects down into the conduit through the slot thereof to support the contact-device; and B is a block of any suitable non-conducting material attached tothe lower end of the standard B, and to which the con tact devices are directly connected. These parts in'themselves form no part of my present invention and may be of any approved or preferred construction.

C C designate flat plates screwed or other- .wise secured to the sides of the insulating blockB' and are provided with laterally projecting horizontal pivots 0, preferably cast integral therewith, upon which the trolley arms D are mounted. Each of said trolley arms comprises a short section D which pivotally engages the stud or pivot c, and a long section D carrying at its outer end the trolley wheel or other suitable contact device E, and pivotally connected at its inner end with the free end of the section D by a pivot d arranged at right angles to the pivot o and in this instance substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the section D.

The

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section Dis designed to normally proj ect from the pivot c on a line approaching the horizontal, being herein shown normally inclined slightly downward toward its outer end, and

5 the section D is arranged at an acute angle with the section D and extends upwardly to bring the trolley E in contact with the line wire A at a point on the other'side of the pivot c from that on whichthe pivot d which joins the two sections D and D is located.

In the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 constant pressure is applied to the trolley wheel E for the purpose of holding the same yieldingly in contact with the conductor by means of a weight D attached to the free end of the section D of the trolley arm and, in this instance, made in the form of an integral extension thereof,said weight being so proportioned as to impart to the arm D a tendency to rotate about the pivot c as a center sufficient to throw the trolley wheel E against the conductor with the yielding force desired. It will, of course, be obvious that because of the arrangement of the trolley on the opposite side of the pivot c from the point of connection of the sections D and D, and tendency of the section D to rotate downwardly about the pivot 0 will produce in the free end of the section D an opposite tendency to swing upwardly about said pivot 0, thereby forcing the trolley E against the line wire or conductor.

In Figs. 3 and 4: I have provided devices for throwing the trolley upwardly against the conductor by spring pressure. To this end the section D is shown provided with a rigidly attached arm D comprising an inwardly projecting part 01, an upwardly inclined portion d herein shown extending substantially parallel with the section D and an out-turned end d at the upper end of the part 01 extending outwardly directly above the section D and beneath the conductor A. A coiled spring F is attached at its upper end to the upper end 01 of the rigid arm D to a hook 0 located upon an outwardly inclined extension 0 of the plates 0, in acommon plane with the section D of the trolley arm and directly beneath the conductor A. The tension of the spring F acting through the rigid arm D of the section D will obviously tend to throw said section downwardly about its pivot 0 thereby throwing the trolley E upwardly against the conductor A in the same manner aswhen the weight D is employed. As a further iniprovement,however, said spring F is made of closely coiled wire of considerable stiffness and the extensions 0 of the plates 0 are provided with curved flanges C over which said springs F are normally bent in passing from the ends d of the rigid arms D to the hooks c to which their lower ends are secured. With this construction the tendency of the coil to resume its normal or contracted form will obviously produce an additional tendency for the trolley arm to rotate on its pivot 0 so as to throw the trolley against the supporting wire. By so arranging the spring F in the vertical plane of the section D its force is always exerted at right angles to the pivot c of said section D in a manner tending solely to revolve the trolley arm about said pivot without producing any side strains tending to cause the bearings to twist or bind.

For the purpose of preventing the springs or weights from producing an undue upward motion of the trolley when the same is not in contact with the conducting wire A, I provide stop chains G attached at their upper ends to the upper portion of the sections D j of the trolley arms, and at their lower ends to the outer ends of the arms G secured to the block B at the bottom of the standard B and projecting outwardly therefrom. Said chains will remain loose or slack under ordinary circumstances but are of such length as to become taut in case of an excessive upward movement of the trolley, and thus restrain the same from passing beyond a desired limit.

An important and obvious advantage of the trolley arm constructed as described lies in the fact that by such construction I am enabled' to produce a contact device having the sections of its trolley arm sufficiently long to provide the extent of movement desired both laterally and vertically without assuming too great an angle relatively to the conductor.. The contact device thus made, furthermore, is in amore compact form and occupies much less space than in the case where both sections of the trolley arm extend in one direction from its point of pivotal connection with the supporting standard. A convenient and desirable arrangement of the parts is that herein shown in which the point of contact of the trolley with the conductor and the point of connection of the two sections of the trolley arm are arranged at substantially equal distances from the opposite edges of the supporting standard B, the amount of projection of the parts on each side of the support B being in such case approximately equal in both directions. i

I claim as my invention- 1. In a traveling contact device for electric railways a trolley arm comprising a short section mounted on a horizontal pivotand a longer section pivotally connected with the shorter section by a pivot arranged at right angles to the horizontal pivot, whereby the trolley wheel or contact piece is supported on the opposite side of the horizontal pivot from the point of connection of the two sections of the arm, and means for affording a yielding upward pressure of the trolley wheel or con tact piece against the conductor, substantially as described.

2. In a traveling contact device for electric railways a trolley arm comprising a short section mounted on a horizontal pivot and a longer section pivotally connected with the shorter section at an acute angle therewith by a pivot arranged at right angles to the horizontal pivot, whereby the trolley wheel or contact piece is supported on the opposite side of the horizontal pivot from the point of connection of the two sections of the arm, and means for afiording a yielding upward pressure of the trolley wheel or contact piece against the conductor, substantially as described.

3. In a traveling contact device a trolley arm comprising a relatively short section mounted upon a horizontal pivot and a relatively long section carrying the contact device and pivotally connected with the shorter section by a pivot arranged at right angles with the horizontal pivot, and means applied to the lower section of the arm tending to rotate the arm about its horizontal pivot and thereby hold the contact piece yieldingly against the line conductor, substantially as described.

4. In a contact device a trolley arm comprising a relatively short section mounted on a horizontal pivot, a relatively long section carrying the contact device and pivotally connected with the shorter section by a pivot arranged at right angles to the horizontal pivot,

an arm rigidly secured to the shorter section shorter section, a spring attached at its upper end to the said arm andat its lower end to a rigid part projecting from the supporting bar, and a curved surface on said part over which the spring is bent, substantially as described. In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN 0. LOVE; Witnesses:

O. CLARENCE POOLE, W. S. HALL. 

